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RECOLLECTIONS 

O  F 

SLAVERY  TIMES, 


ALLEN  PARKER, 


WORCESTER,  MASS.: 

Chas.  W.  Burbank  &  Co.,  Printers 
34  front  street. 

1895. 


Cc  32(0.12 

P23'8f 


- TO - 

ifWj)  Hflotljec 

WHOSE  EYES  WERE  NOT  PERMITTED  TO  SEE  THE 
EMANCIPATION  OF  HER  RACE,  BUT  WHO  DIED  A 
SLAVE  AND  NOW  LIES  BURIED  IN  AN  UNMARKED 
AND  NEGLECTED  GRAVE  ON  THE  OLD  PLAN¬ 
TATION  IN  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH,  NEAR 
WHERE  SHE  SPENT  HER  LIFE  IN 
UNPAID  TOIL  FOR  OTHERS, 

THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  AFFECTIONATELY  DEDICATED. 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  presenting  these  pages  to  the  public, 
but  little  explanation  need  be  made,  for 
they  contain  only  the  story  of  a  slave,  told 
as  nearly  as  possible  in  his  own  words. 
One-third  of  a  century  has  passed  since 
slavery  ceased  forever  in  our  land,  and  to 
the  generation  that  has  grown  up  in  that 
time,  it  hardly  seems  possible  that  such  an 
institution  as  slavery  could  have  existed  in 
this  free  land;  but  he  who  in  these  pages 
tells  his  simple  story  was  only  one  of  three 
millions  of  human  beings  who  were  bought 
and  sold,  kept  in  subjection  and  forced  to 
labor  without  pay  in  order  that  their  more 
fortunate  white  brethren  and  sisters  might 
live  in  ease  and  luxury,  and  though  he  only 
saw  slavery  in  its  mildest  form  no  one  can 
read  his  story  without  a  feeling  of  indigna¬ 
tion  that  slavery  should  ever  have  been 
tolerated  much  less  sanctioned  by  law. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofs00park_1 


RECOLLECTIONS 


O  F 

SLAVERY  TIMES. 


CHAPTER  I. 


J  W AS  born  in  the  town  of  Chowan  on 
the  Chowan  River,  in  the  northeastern 
part  of  North  Carolina,  only  a  short  dis¬ 
tance  south  of  the  Virginia  line.  My 
mother,  whose  name  was  Millie,  was  a 
slave  formerly  owned  by  one  Peter  Par¬ 
ker;  and  as  children  born  in  slavery 
followed  the  condition  of  their  mother,  I 
was  of  course  claimed  as  Peter  Parker’s 
property,  and  have  always  gone  by  the 
name  of  Allen  Parker. 


8 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


My  father’s  name  was  Jeff,  and  being 
owned  by  one  William  Ellick,  he  went  by 
the  name  of  Jeff  Ellick,  but  as  he  had 
the  misfortune  to  have  been  born  with¬ 
out  ears,  he  was  often  called  “no-eared 
Jeff.”  He  did  not  live  with  my  mother, 
as  his  master’s  plantation  was  some  ten 
miles  from  the  Parker  plantation,  but 
he  generally  came  home  Saturday  nights 
and  now  and  then  would  come  to  us  in 
the  night  during  the  week,  as  a  slave 
did  not  mind  a  walk  of  ten  miles  after 
his  day’s  work  if  he  could  have  a  chance 
to  see  his  loved  ones. 

I  do  not  know  exactly  when  I  was 
born,  for  slaves  keep  no  family  records, 
and  if  any  records  of  the  ages  of  the 
slaves  was  kept  by  the  Parker  family  I 
never  knew  of  it.  I  suppose  however 
that  I  must  have  been  born  sometime  be¬ 
tween  1835  and  1840.  I  do  not  remember 
my  old  master  as  his  death  occured  when 
I  was  only  a  few  months  old.  While  he 
lived  my  mother  was  what  was  known  as 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


9 


&  - .rwsf-i 

a  field  hand.  About  two  weeks  after  my 
birth,  my  mistress  gave  birth  to  a  little 
girl  whom  she  named  Annie,  and  I  have 
been  told  that  my  mistress  often  nursed 
me  at  her  breast,  in  order  that  my  mo¬ 
ther  might  not  be  kept  from  her  work 
in  the  field.  When  Mr.  Parker  died 
both  my  mother  and  myself  became  the 
property  of  the  daughter  Annie,  in  ac¬ 
cordance  with  his  last  will  and  testement. 
In  his  will  my  master  provided  that  none 
of  the  slaves  left  by  him  should  be  sold 
but  might  be  hired  out,  that  is  let  to 
some  person  by  the  year. 

Annie  and  her  property  were  under 
the  guardianship  of  Mr  Parker’s  brother 
who  was  named  James  Skinner. 

It  was  customary  in  those  days  for 
those  having  slaves  to  let,  to  take  them 
to  some  prominent  place,  such  as  a  point 
where  two  roads  crossed,  on  the  first  day 
of  the  New  Year,  and  at  a  given  hour 
of  the  day  the  slaves  would  be  put  up  at 
auction,  and  let  to  the  highest  bidders 


10 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


for  one  year;  there  was  generally  quite  a 
gathering  on  these  occasions,  both  of 
slaves  and  of  white  people.  It  was  al¬ 
ways  understood  that  a  person  hiring  a 
slave  must  furnish  board  and  clothes  in 
addition  to  paying  a  certain  sum  of 
money  per  year,  and  also  agreeing  not  to 
misuse  the  slave  in  any  way  that  would 
injure  his  or  her  value.  It  was  also  un¬ 
derstood  that  if  a  slave  was  not  treated 
properly  the  person  owning  or  having 
charge  of  the  slave  could  take  it  away, 
in  which  case  the  money  paid  for  the 
slave’s  hire  for  the  year  would  be  for¬ 
feited. 

In  acordance  with  this  custom  my 
mother  was  let  out  to  a  poor  white,  that 
is  a  farmer  who  did  not  own  any  slaves, 
and  I  being  only  a  baby,  went  with  her, 
and  it  was  upon  this  farm  which  was  near 
the  Parker  Plantation  that  my  first  ex¬ 
perience  of  slave  life  began. 

The  country  around  Chowan  was 
not  very  thickly  settled,  the  land  being  de- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


11 


vided  up  into  farms  or  plantations,  upon 
which  was  raised  wheat,  indian  corn,  rye, 
oats,  peanuts,  sweet-potatoes  and  some¬ 
times  rice.  Vegatables  enough  for  home 
use  were  also  raised.  Most  of  the  farm¬ 
ers  owned  hogs  which  were  allowed  to 
run  wild  in  the  woods  where  they  fed 
upon  acorns,  nuts  and  roots.  There  were 
also  horses,  mules  and  some  horned  cat¬ 
tle  all  of  which  received  full  as  good  care 
as  the  slaves  did. 

The  farm  work  was  done  by  slaves, 
women  working  in  the  field  as  well  as 
the  men.  Boys  and  girls  were  required 
to  work  as  soon  as  they  were  able  to  do 
anything. 

The  slaves  lived  in  log  cabins. 
Single  slaves  who  did  not  belong  to  slave 
families,  lived  in  common  with  others 
and  were  fed  from  the  main  kitchen. 
Those  who  had  families  generally  lived 
in  small  one-story  log  cabins.  The  walls 
of  these  cabins  were  made  of  rough  logs, 
the  spaces  between  the  logs  being  filled 


12 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


with  clay;  the  roof  was  made  of  thin 
strips  of  wood  split  from  clear,  straight 
grained  logs;  these  strips  extended  from 
the  eaves  to  the  ridge  pole,  and  were 
laid  over  each  other  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  make  a  fairly  tight  roof.  If  the  roof 
did  leak  a  little  there  was  no  danger  of 
spoiling  any  nice  furniture  for  the  very 
good  reason  the  slaves  did  not  have  any. 

The  fireplace  was  made  of  logs  and 
was  large  enough  to  take  in  a  log  five  or 
six  feet  long.  On  the  fireplace  was  built 
a  wooden  chimney,  made  of  sticks  piled 
up  cob-house  fashion,  and  extending  out 
through  the  roof  some  two  or  three  feet. 
The  sides  of  the  chimney  tapered  in¬ 
ward  as  they  went  up,  so  that  the  hole 
was  somewhat  smaller  at  the  top  than 
at  the  bottom.  When  the  woodwork  of  the 
fireplace  was  done,  and  the  chimney  built 
up  as  high  as  needed,  the  whole  affair 
was  plastered  outside  and  in  with  wet 
clay,  which  finished  the  fireplace  and 
chimney.  The  heat  of  the  fire  soon  hard- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


13 


ened  the  clay  and  a  chimney  of  this  kind 
would  last  a  long  time. 

This  kind  of  masonry  not  only  has 
the  advantage  of  being  cheap  but  it 
could  be  repaired  without  difficulty  at 
any  time,  as  the  material  cost  nothing 
and  was  always  at  hand. 

The  door  of  the  cabin  was  made  of 
rough  boards  nailed  together  and  was 
hung  on  heavy  iron  hinges  like  a  barn¬ 
door.  As  the  slaves  had  little  to  loose, 
the  door  are  seldom  fastened  on  the 
the  inside,  but  was  kept  shut  by  a  latch 
that  could  be  raised  from  the  outside  by 
means  of  a  string;  if  those  inside  happened 
to  want  to  fasten  it  they  pull  in  the 
latch  string.  The  windows  had  only 
wooden  shutters  which  could  be  closed 
when  desired,  but  this  would  of  course 
leave  the  cabin  in  darkness. 

When  a  fire  was  needed  a  few 
bricks,  or  stones  were  placed  on  the 
hearth  to  take  the  place  of  firedogs,  on 
these  was  placed  a  huge  back  log,  in 


14 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


front  of  which  was  built  a  fire  of  small 
wood.  At  this  fire  all  the  family  cook¬ 
ing  was  done. 

The  cooking  utensils  were  few  and 
all  of  the  simplist  kind.  A  long  handled 
shallow  iron  skillet  with  long  legs  did 
duty  as  a  spider  in  which  to  fry  our  salt 
pork,  bacon  and  other  meat,  whenever 
we  could  get  it.  It  was  also  sometimes 
used  to  bake  “hoe  cake”  in.  These  hoe 
cakes,  which  formed  a  large  part  of  the 
slave’s  bill  of  fare,  were  made  of  Indian 
meal,  and  water  with  a  little  salt  and 
sometimes  a  quantity  of  pork  fat  was 
added.  When  the  skillet  was  not  at 
hand  or  was  wanted  for  some  other  pur¬ 
pose,  a  “nigger  hoe”  that  is  a  hoe  used 
by  the  slave  in  the  field,  was  placed 
handle  down  upon  the  floor,  so  that  the 
under  side  of  the  hoe  would  be  next  to 
the  fire.  The  angle  that  the  iron  part 
of  the  hoe  made  with  the  handle  was 
such  that  when  the  handle  was  placed 
upon  the  floor  the  iron  part  would  slant 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


15 


back  from  the  fire,  thereby  making  a 
resting  place  for  the  cake.  When  one 
side  of  the  cake  was  baked  the  other 
side  was  turned  to  the  fire.  From  this 
style  of  cooking,  the  cake  came  to  be 
called  “hoe  cake.” 

The  common  allowance  of  a  slave 
was  four  quarts  of  Indian  meal  and  five 
pounds  of  salt  pork,  sometimes  one  quart 
of  molasses,  per  week,  and  all  the  sweet 
potatoes  that  they  wanted.  Whatever 
else  they  had,  had  to  be  earned  by  over 
work,  or  by  selling  a  part  of  their  allow¬ 
ance,  or  as  it  often  happened  by  selling 
such  supplies  as  could  be  stolen  from  the 
fields  or  storehouses  upon  the  planta¬ 
tions.  There  could  always  be  found  a 
market  among  the  poor  whites,  for  what¬ 
ever  a  slave  had  to  sell,  though  the  price 
paid  was  often  very  low,  for  the  slave 
was  in  a  measure  at  the  mercy  of  the 
buyer.  Generally  the  buyer  knew  or  had 
reasons  to  suspect  that  the  goods  were 
stolen,  and  he  also  knew  it  was  against 


16 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


the  law  for  him  to  buy  goods  of  a  slave 
without  knowing  that  everything  was 
all  right.  But  he  knew  that  the  slave 
could  not  complain  of  him  without  get¬ 
ting  into  trouble  himself,  and  feeling  safe 
along  that  line  he  had  only  to  suggest 
to  the  slave  that  he  thought  it  would  be 
well  to  consult  the  master  in  relation  to 
the  trade,  this  was  of  course  the  last 
thing  the  slave  wanted  to  have  done; 
for  if  his  master  found  that  he  was  sell¬ 
ing  stolen  goods,  a  severe  punishment 
was  sure  to  follow,  that  is  if  the  goods 
were  stolen  from  the  master’s  plantation, 
and  of  course  the  slave  knew  best  as  to 
the  proper  owner  of  the  goods. 

Men  and  women  who  were  not  mar¬ 
ried  lived  in  the  common  quarters  as  I 
have  said,  but  the  men  and  women  lived 
in  separate  cabins.  On  some  plantations 
each  slave  had  to  do  his  or  her  own  cook¬ 
ing,  but  on  the  others  there  was  a  cook¬ 
house  called  the  kitchen  where  not  only 
the  food  for  the  master’s  family  was  cook- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


17 


ed,  but  also  the  food  of  such  slaves  as 
did  not  live  in  families. 

The  kitchen  was  generally  under 
the  control  of  female  slaves  who  did  the 
cooking  with  the  help  of  one  or  two  more 
slaves  and  perhaps  a  boy  to  run  errands. 
The  woman  in  charge  would  most  likely 
be  called  Aunt  Dina,  or  Aunt  somebody 
else,  and  was  quite  a  personage  upon  the 
plantation,  as  she  not  only  did  the  cook¬ 
ing  but  also  looked  out  for  the  laundry 
work,  and  had  the  general  charge  of  such 
of  the  slave  children  as  did  not  live  with 
their  mothers,  in  separate  cabins. 

These  children  did  not  have  any 
regular  allowances  but  went  to  the 
kitchen  for  their  meals. 

The  food  being  most  commonly 
thick  sour  milk  and  hoe  cake. 

The  milk  would  be  poured  into  a 
trough  something  like  a  pig’s  trough. 
Then  each  child  would  be  given  a  piece 
of  hoe  cake  and  an  iron  spoon  and  allowed 
to  go  to  the  trough  and  eat  as  much  as 
they  wanted. 


18 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


Meat  was  sometimes  given  them,  but 
not  very  often,  and  then  it  was  only 
what  would  be  called  waste  in  most  fam 
ilies.  Good  masters  sometimes  gave  the 
children  meat,  generally  pork,  three 
times  in  a  week. 

Fat  pork  was  thought  to  improve 
the  looks  of  the  children,  by  giving  the 
skin  an  oily  look. 

Sometimes  when  the  master  had 
company,  he  would  have  the  children 
all  sent  up  to  the  mansion  house  so  that 
he  might  show  them  off. 

When  this  was  to  be  done  he  would 
send  word  to  Aunt  Dina  to  have  the 
children  washed  and  put  into  clean  shirts. 
When  this  was  done  Aunt  Dina  would 
take  each  child  separately  and  grease  its 
mouth  so  that  the  child  would  look  as  if 
they  had  been  eating  meat. 

When  they  were  all  fixed  according 
to  Aunt  Dina’s  idea  of  smartness  they 
would  be  sent  to  the  house,  and  told  to 
stand  in  a  row  before  the  master,  who 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


19 


would  point  to  them  with  about  the  same 
kind  of  pride  that  he  would  have  in 
showing  a  flock  of  good  sheep,  or  a  lot 
of  good  hogs. 

As  to  clothing,  a  slave’s  outfit  was 
far  from  being  expensive.  Until  I  was 
quite  a  large  boy  say  10  or  12  years  old 
my  only  garment  was  a  long  shirt,  made 
of  heavv  cotton  cloth  and  reaching  from 

%j  O 

my  neck  to  just  below  my  knees,  no 
hat  upon  my  head  or  shoes  upon  my 
feet.  After  I  was  thought  to  be  old 
enough  to  take  part  in  the  field  work,  I 
had  a  regular  allowance  of  clothing  in 
common  with  the  other  slaves.  This  al¬ 
lowance  consisted  of  two  shirts,  two  pairs 
of  pants,  two  pair  of  shoes,  one  straw  hat 
and  two  blankets  per  year.  The  shirts 
and  pants  being  made  of  cotton  ducking. 
This  allowance  would  be  considered  ra¬ 
ther  small  for  a  society  young  man  in  the 
North  at  the  present  time.  The  outfit 
of  the  women,  like  that  of  the  men,  was 
very  simple  and  inexpensive,  consisting 


20 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


of  two  sheets,  two  blankets,  two  dresses, 
two  pairs  of  shoes  and  now  and  then  a 
cheap  hat.  It  must  not  be  understood 
however  that  slaves  did  not  sometimes 
have  other  clothes,  for  the  love  of  dress 
was  just  as  strong  with  them  as  with 
those  more  fortunate  with  funds.  They 
would  often  spend  for  dress  the  money 
they  earned  by  overwork,  and  some¬ 
times  favorite  slaves  would  have  clothes 
given  to  them.  In  one  way  or  another 
most  of  the  slaves  managed  to  have  at 
least  one  suit  that  was  a  little  better 
than  the  clothes  that  they  wore  every 
day,  and  some  of  them  could  dress  very 
well  when  they  went  to  meeting,  or  to 
the  gatherings  upon  the  plantations. 

*  *  *  I*  *  * 

During  the  evenings  in  the  Fall  of 
the  year  until  about  Christmas  the 
women  would  be  required  to  spin  cotton 
yarn,  which  one  of  the  hands  would  weave 
into  a  course  kind  of  cloth,  which  was 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


21 


made  into  shirts,  pants,  dresses  and  so 
forth  for  the  slaves. 

When  the  slaves  wanted  to  comb 
their  hair  they  did  not  always  go  to 
wash  as  a  fashionable  young  lady  of  to¬ 
day  does,  but  would  get  a  card  such  as 
some  farmers  use  in  carding  cattle,  and 
would  card  their  hair  with  it. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the 
negro  does  not  have  long  hair  like  white 
people,  but  short  curly  hair  commonly 
called  wool. 


CHAPTER  II. 


JN  the  locality  where  I  lived  there  was 
no  attention  paid  to  the  ceremony  of 
marriage  by  the  slaves.  In  fact  on  many 
plantations  many  of  the  slaves  were  not 
married  at  all  but  herded  together  very 
much  like  cattle,  living  in  common 
quarters.  On  other  plantations,  slaves 
were  allowed  to  marry,  though  it  often 
happened  that  the  husband  lived  on  one 
plantation  and  the  wife  and  her  children 
upon  another,  but  even  in  this  case  there 
was  seldom  any  marriage  ceremony 
performed. 

If  a  young  slave  took  a  fancy  to 
marry  a  slave  girl,  he  first  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  girl  herself,  which,  if  he 
was  good  looking  and  belonged  to  a  good 
family,  was  easily  obtained,  but  if  he 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


23 


was  a  “no-account  nigger”  owned  by  a 
failed  planter  or  let  out  to  a  poor  white 
the  case  was  different.  After  obtaining 
the  girl’s  consent  he  would  go  to  his 
master  or  mistress,  and  ask  for  permis¬ 
sion  to  marry,  and  if  he  stood  well  with 
them  he  had  no  difficulty  in  getting 
their  consent.  He  would  get  permis¬ 
sion  to  go  to  the  plantation  where  his 
girl  lived  to  obtain  the  consent  of  her 
master.  When  he  arrived  at  the  planta¬ 
tion  where  his  girl  lived,  he  would  go  di¬ 
rectly  to  the  owner,  or  master  as  he  was 
called,  and  with  whom  he  was  most  like¬ 
ly  acquainted,  and  who  had  perhaps  been 
informed  by  the  young  slave’s  master  of 
the  intended  visit  aud  its  object;  when 
a  conversation  something  like  the  follow¬ 
ing  would  take  place: 

“Hello  Sam !  Is  that  you?” 

“Yes  Massa,  its  me.” 

“How  is  your  Master  and  Mistress 
and  the  little  folks?” 


24 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


“Dey  is  all  well  Massa,  cept  Mistress 
hab  got  a  sore  foot.” 

“Is  that  so  Sam,  how  did  it  happen?” 

“D’no,  spects  she  hurt  it  in  de  gar¬ 
den.” 

“Well  Sam,  when  you  go  home  give 
her  my  compliments,  and  tell  her  that  I 
hope  she  will  not  be  laid  up  long,  but  by 
the  way  Sam,  what  message  did  your 
Master  send  by  you?” 

“Did’nt  send  no  message,  sar,  I 
corned  myself.” 

“What!  You  don’t  mean  to  say  that 
you  have  run  away  Sam?” 

“No  sar,  Massa  told  me  as  how  I 
might  come  and  see  Massa  Jones.” 

“Well  Sam,  what  is  it,  does  your 
Master  intend  to  hire  you  out  next  year 
and  you  want  me  to  hire  you?” 

“No  sar,  Massa  John  don’t  let  his 
niggers,  he  wants  me  hisself.  But  I 
corned  to  see  you  Massa  cause  I  think 
that  you  yellar  gal  Sue  is  a  right  smart, 
good  gal.” 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


25 


“That  so,  Sam?” 

“And  I  thought  that  perhaps,  maybe, 
that  seeing  as  you  and  Massa  John  was 
good  friends,  and  being  as  I  want  no  bad 
nigger  at  all,  that  maybe,  possibly,  you 
might  consider  to  consent  that  me  and 
she  might  be  married.” 

At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  the 
“man”  would  look  the  “property”  over  as 
carefully  as  a  farmer  would  a  horse  or  a 
cow  he  intended  to  purchase,  knowing  as 
he  did  so,  that,  if  the  marriage  was  a 
desirable  one,  it  would  be  for  his  interest 
to  give  his  consent,  for  would  not  all  the 
children  that  might  be  born  to  the  couple 
be  his  own  property,  and  could  he  not 
thus  increase  the  value  of  his  personal 
estate? 

“Got  any  bad  habits,  Sam?” 

“No  sar .” 

“Ever  been  whipped,  Sam?” 

“No  sar.” 

“Let  me  look  at  you,  Sam?” 

“Yes  sar” 


26 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


Then  Sam  would  be  carefully  looked 
over  to  see  if  he  had  any  defects  that 
would  be  objectional  if  transmitted  to  his 
offspring,  then  more  questions  would  be 
asked. 

“Well  Sam,  I  like  your  looks,  and  I 
will  think  it  over.  You  come  and  see  me 
next  week  and  I  will  tell  you.” 

“Can  I  see  Sue,  Massa?” 

“Yes  Sam,  you  can  see  her  when  she 
comes  from  the  field.” 

After  spending  some  hours  with  his 
sweetheart,  Sam  would  go  home  and  at 
the  end  of  the  week  would  again  get 
permission  to  go  to  the  Jones  Plantation, 
and  upon  arriving  there  he  would  as  be¬ 
fore,  go  at  once  to  the  master. 

“Hello!  Sam,  you  here  again,  what 
do  you  want  this  time?” 

“Well  Massa  Jones,  I  coined  to  see 
as  to  what  you  thought  about  me  and 
Sue  getting  married.” 

“Get  out  you  nigger.” 

“But  Massa  told  Sam  to  come.” 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


27 


“How’s  that  Sam?” 

“Massa  Jones  told  Sam  to  come  in 
one  week,  and  den  Massa  Jones  tell  Sam 
as  how  he  can  marry  Sue  or  not.” 

“0  yes,  I  remember  now,  well  Sam  I 
have  talked  it  over  with  Sue’s  Mistress 
and  we  have  concluded  to  let  you  mar¬ 
ry  Sue,  and  I  will  have  a  cabin  built  down 
by  the  quarters  and  Sue  can  live  there.” 

“Thankie  Massa.’’ 

Sam  would  ero  agrain  and  find  Sue  and 

o 

they  would  spend  the  evening  together 
and  from  that  time  would  be  considered 
as  man  and  wife.  But  each  would  continue 
u  slave  and  must  do  his  or  her  master’s  bid¬ 
ding  no  matter  how  much  it  might  con¬ 
flict  with  their  own  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong. 

In  due  time  the  cabin  would  be  built 
and  would  be  considered  as  the  home  of 
Sue,  and  also  of  Sam,  whenever  he  could 
get  permission  of  his  master  to  leave  the 
plantation  or  whenever  he  could  manage 
to  steal  away  without  leave. 


28 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


It  should  be  remembered  that  no 
slave  was  allowed  to  be  off  the  plantation 
after  sunset,  without  a  written  pass  from 
either  his  master  or  mistress. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  slaves  from 
strolling  about  men  were  employed  at  pub¬ 
lic  expense  to  patrol  the  roads  and  were 
instructed  to  whip  every  nigger  found  at 
large  without  a  written  pass. 

A  whipping  of  this  kind  meant  thirty- 
nine  lashes  on  the  bare  back. 

These  men  were  called  by  the  slaves 
“Pattie  Rollers.”  (Patrolmen)  and  were  of 
course  hated  as  they  deserved  to  be. 

They  were  generally  poor  whites 
who  did  the  work  partly  for  the  money 
they  could  get  out  of  the  business,  and 
partly  on  account  of  the  excitment  there 
was  in  it. 

They  would  go  two,  or  three  together 
mounted  on  horse-back,  and  generally 
accompanied  by  one  or  more  dogs.  They 
were  also  armed  with  guns,  and  carried 
great  whips,  made  of  raw-hide  or  leather. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


29 


If  they  found  a  slave  in  the  road 
they  would  at  once  demand  his  pass  which 
he  was  obliged  to  show  when  he  would 
be  allowed  to  go  on,  but  if  he  did  not 
have  one  he  would  do  his  best  to  keep 
out  of  the  way  of  the  “Pattie  Rollers,”  so 
that  if  they  caught  him  at  all  it  would  be 
after  quite  a  chase.  If  the  slave  was  a 
good  runner  he  would  make  straight  for 
the  home  plantation.  He  would  of  course 
know  the  advantage,  for  being  on  foot  he 
could  take  to  the  woods,  which  he  was 
sure  to  do  if  hard  pressed.  Once  in  the 
woods  he  might  be  obliged  to  hide  unless 
the  “Pattie  Rollers”had  dogs  with  them, 
but  even  in  that  case  he  might  manage 
to  give  them  the  slip,  for  if  he  came  to 
a  stream  of  water  he  would  wade  or 
swim  across  it,  or  he  might  walk  in  it  for 
a  little  way,  in  either  case  the  dogs 
would  lose  the  scent  when  they  got  to 
the  water,  and  unless  they  could  see  or 
hear  him  could  not  follow.  In  this  way 
he  often  managed  to  evade  his  persuers. 


30 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


As  soon  as  he  found  that  he  was 
not  followed,  he  would  go  his  way,  or  he 
might  hide  a  while  till  he  thought  all  dan¬ 
ger  was  passed  and  then  either  go  home, 
or  continue  on  his  way.  In  any  case  if 
he  managed  to  get  on  to  his  master’s 
plantation  before  he  was  caught,  the 
“Pat tie  Rollers”  were  obliged  to  let  him 
go. 

If  they  caught  him  before  he 
reached  the  home  plantation,  he  would 
be  tied  to  the  nearest  tree,  what  few 
clothes  he  had  on  would  be  taken  off,  and 
he  would  be  given  thirty-nine  lashes  on 
his  bare  back. 

In  spite  of  the  danger  of  being 
caught  the  slaves  were  often  out  nights 
without  passes. 

^  &  ❖  #  #  jJ; 

The  slave’s  love  for  his  family  was  as 
strong  as  that  of  his  white  master  for  his, 
and  he  would  be  found  in  his  wife’s  cabin 
as  often  as  possible. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


31 


Of  course  all  the  children  born  in  the 
slave’s  cabin  were  slaves  like  their  father 
and  mother.  But  there  was  this  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  children  of  the  master 
and  the  slave. 

The  white  child  inherited  his  father’s 
name  and  property,  but  the  child  of  the 
slave  mother  was  by  law  considered  the 
property  of  the  mother’s  master  even  if 
the  father  was  a  free  negro,  or  as  it  too 
often  happened  a  free  white  man. 

The  slave  children  were  called  by 
the  name  of  the  master,  and  the  father 
had  but  very  little  control  over  them 
while  they  were  small  and  none  at  all 
when  they  were  large  enough  to  be  of 
any  use  on  the  plantation. 

#  *  *  sfc 

On  every  plantation  was  a  place 
where  the  slaves  were  buried  when  they 
died.  For  the  slaves  were  very  apt  to  die, 
as  the  master  generally  took  more  care 

of  his  cattle  than  of  his  slaves. 


32 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


When  a  slave  died,  the  body  was 
placed  in  a  rough  box,  carried  to  the 
grave  and  buried  with  less  form  as  far  as 
the  master  was  concerned  than  would  be 
given  the  burial  of  a  pet  dog. 

There  was  not  often  any  funeral  ser¬ 
vice  at  all.  Sometimes  in  the  case  of  the 
death  of  a  favorite  the  master’s  family 
would  show  some  interest,  but  generally 
no  more  notice  was  taken  of  a  slave’s  death 
then  would  be  given  to  a  valuable  horse 
or  cow.  The  master  feeling  that  he  had 
lost  so  much  property  that  was  more  or 
less  valuable. 


CHAPTER  I  I  T . 


w  HEN  I  was  a  small  child  I  lived 
with  my  mother,  in  different  places* 
T  remember  that  when  I  was  about  five 
years  old  we  lived  with  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Small,  a  name  that  fitted  him 
very  well  for  he  was  a  very  hard,  mean 
man. 

At  this  time  I  had  a  little  sister  and 
my  mother  would  leave  us  in  the  cabin 
during  the  day,  telling  me  to  take  care  of 
sister. 

She  would  get  up  at  about  six 
o’clock  in  the  norning,  get  breakfast 
for  the  entire  family,  she  being  the  only 
slave  that  the  man  Small  hired. 

After  breakfast  she  would  put  the 
house  in  order  and  do  all  the  chores  and 
would  then  work  in  the  field  till  about 
eleven  o’clock,  when  she  would  return 


34 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


and  get  dinner.  If  she  happened  to  be 
at  work  near  the  cabin  she  would  run  in 
during  the  forenoon  and  feed  the  baby. 

After  dinner  was  over  and  the  house 
again  in  order  she  would  return  to  the 
field  and  work  till  about  four  o’clock. 
She  would  then  return,  get  supper  and 
do  the  chores  for  the  night.  Everything 
that  she  cooked  was  first  weighed  or 
measured  out  to  her  and  she  was  expected 
to  make  it  go  just  so  far.  No  matter 
how  hungry  we  children  were,  we  could 
not  have  anything  to  eat  till  the  white 
folks  had  got  all  they  wanted,  and  then 
we  could  have  what  was  left,  and  if  there 
was  not  enough  left  we  had  to  wait  till 
mother  cooked  some  more. 

One  day  late  in  the  fall  Small  got 
angry  with  mother  and  knocked  her 
down,  then  getting  over  her  he  pounded 
her  in  the  face  with  his  fists,  after  which 
he  left  her  on  the  cabin  floor  and  went 
out.  I  was  standing  by  my  sister’s  cradle 
and  saw  it  all  but  of  course  could  not  do 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


35 


anything  to  help  my  mother.  When  she 
got  up  her  face  was  covered  with  blood. 
As  soon  as  she  was  able  she  ran  away  to 
the  woods,  leaving  us  children  in  the 
cabin,  and  we  did  not  see  her  again  for 
several  weeks. 

When  iny  old  mistress  heard  of  the 
trouble,  which  she  did  in  a  very  short 
time,  she  sent  and  got  us,  and  although  it 
was  known  where  my  mother  was,  she  was 
not  required  to  return  till  Christmas  time 
Small  not  only  lost  her  labor  during  this 
time  but  was  obliged  to  pay  for  her  just 
the  same  as  if  she  had  been  at  work  for 
him. 

When  the  new  year  came  round  my 
mother  was  let  out  again  to  another  man, 
but  I  stayed  on  the  plantation  with  my 
sister.  The  next  year  my  sister  and  1 
went  with  mother.  We  had  a  good  place 
and  stayed  there  three  years. 

The  following  year  I  was  let  out 
alone  for  my  board  and  clothes,  that  is 
two  shirts  and  two  blankets.  There  was 


36 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


no  one  in  the  family  but  the  man  and  his 
wife.  I  had  to  pick  np  wood  for  the  fire, 
do  errands  and  help  around  the  house 
what  I  could.  Sometimes  1  had  plenty 
to  eat  and  sometimes  almost  nothing.  I 
stayed  there  however  until  the  latter  part 
of  the  year,  when  one  day  the  man  and 
his  wife  went  away  on  a  visit  leaving  me 
locked  up  in  the  house  with  nothing  to 
eat.  How  long  they  intended  to  stay  I 
do  not  know,  but  it  happened  that  my 
father  had  got  leave  to  visit  my  mother, 
and  on  his  wav  came  to  see  me.  When 
lie  found  out  how  I  was  situated,  he  got 
into  the  huuse  and  took  me  out  Then 
taking  me  upon  his  back  he  carried  me 
to  my  old  mistress,  who  kept  me  with  her 
until  my  mother  was  let  the  next  year. 

The  next  year  I  went  with  my 
mother  to  live  with  a  man  by  the  name 
of  George  Williams,  who  proved  to  be  a 
very  good  master. 

Williams  had  about  five  acres  of 
land  and  kept  a  small  store,  he  also  had 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


I 


37 


a  horse  and  cow,  but  had  no  slave  except 
my  mother.  There  I  had  a  very  good 
time  though  I  had  to  do  some  work. 
There  were  several  children  on  the  place 
and  a  part  of  my  work  was  to  help  take 
care  of  them. 

My  mother  did  the  cooking,  milked 
the  cows  and  did  the  work  on  the  farm. 

When  the  white  children  went  to 
school  I  used  to  carry  their  dinners  to 
them  at  noon.  I  would  get  there  before 
school  was  out  sometimes  and  would  hear 
them  singing  their  geography  lessons, 
and  it  was  not  long  before  I  knew  some 
of  these  lessons  by  heart,  but  of  course 
a  slave  child  was  not  supposed  to  need 
any  education. 

While  we  lived  with  Mr.  Williams  I 
had  many  good  times  playing  with  the 
other  children  for  whatever  the  grown 
white  people  might  think  about  the  color¬ 
ed  people,  the  little  children  did  not 
know  any  difference  when  they  were  al- 
lowed  to  play  with  the  slave  children 


38 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


I  do  not  remember  any  game  we 
played  that  was  different  from  those  I 
have  seen  the  children  in  the  north  with 
the  exception  of  a  play  we  used  to  have 
with  a  little  brown  bug  which  we  called  a 
“Doodle  Bug.” 

This  bug;  as  I  remember  it  was 
about  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long? 
and  spent  most  of  its  time  so  far  as  we 
know  at  the  bottom  of  a  hole  in  the 
ground,  about  half  an  inch  in  diameter 
and  about  two  inches  deep.  When  we 
wanted  to  play  with  the  bug  we  would 
hunt  around  till  we  found  what  we 
called  a  Doodle  Bug;  hole  Then  one  of  us 
would  get  down  on  all  fours  and  put  his 
mouth  near  the  hole  and  beg;in  calling; 

o  O 

“Doodle,  Doodle,  Doodle,”  after  a  while 
the  bug  would  come  out  and  play  on  the 
ground  around  the  top  of  the  hole.  It 
would  also  allow  itself  to  be  taken  into 
the  hand,  when  we  could  play  with  it  as 
long  as  we  wished. 

The  children  believed  that  they 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


30 


must  always  call  it  Doodle  or  Mr.  Doodle 
and  that  if  they  called  it  anything  else  it 
would  not  come  out  of  its  hole  or  allow 
itself  to  be  handled.  Be  that  as  it  was 
we  used  to  get  a  great  deal  of  amusement 
out  of  the  Doodle  Bug. 

Sometimes  we  would  catch  two  or 
three  and  put  them  together,  and  then 
watch  them  play. 

On  Sundays  I  used  to  drive  the  fam¬ 
ily  to  church.  Now  it  happened  that 
Mr.  Williams  had  only  one  vehicle,  and 
consequently  that  one  had  to  do  duty 
on  any  and  all  occasions.  This  vehicle 
was  a  two  wheeled  horse  cart.  The  body 
was  made  of  boards  with  stakes  at  the 
sides,  and  to  these  were  fastened  rails 
which  ran  all  round  the  cart  about  three 
feet  above  the  bottom.  As  we  stood  up 
in  the  cart  the  rails  were  very  handy 
to  take  hold  of. 

Perhaps  on  Saturday  1  would  use  the 
cart  to  carry  out  manure  in,  and  on  Sun¬ 
day  1  would  brush  it  out  and  wash  it  a 


40 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


little  if  it  happened  to  be  very  dirty  in¬ 
deed. 

Sunday  after  Sunday  we  all  went  to 
church  in  this  cart,  which  was  drawn  by 
the  single  horse  owned  by  Mr.  Williams. 

In  those  times  father  often  visited 
us,  and  did  what  he  could  to  make  us  all 
happy.  4  hough  of  course  we  saw  much 
less  of  him  than  most  children  see  of 
their  father. 

At  the  end  of  our  stay  with  Mr. 
Williams,  I  was  separated  from  my 
mother,  as  it  was  considered  that  I  was 
then  able  to  earn  my  own  way  living 
and  a  little  more. 

So  on  the  first  of  the  following  year 
I  was  let  to  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jacob 
Parker.  I  remained  with  him  for  two 
years,  he  paid  five  dollars  the  first 
and  ten  dollars  for  the  second  year,  for 
my  services  in  addition  to  my  clothes. 
Up  to  this  time  the  only  garment  had 
been  the  long  shirt  already  spoken  of, 
but  this  year  I  had  a  full  regular  outfit 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


41 


consisting,  as  I  have  said,  of  two  shirts 
two  pair  of  pants,  two  jackets,  two  pairs 
of  shoes,  and  two  blankets. 

At  night  I  spread  one  of  my  blank¬ 
ets  upon  the  floor  over  a  board  about 
eighteen  inches  wide  and  six  feet  long 
and  laid  dawn  upon  it  covering  myself 
with  the  other  blanket  using  mv  coat  for 
a  pillow.  In  the  morning  I  got  up,  picked 
up  my  blanket,  put  it  one  side  and  was 
ready  for  my  day’s  work. 

Mr.  Parker  was  a  common  poor 
white  who  owned  or  hired  no  slaves.  I 
being  the  only  colored  person  on  the 
place,  but  I  got  along  pretty  well  with 
him,  and  did  what  I  could  to  help. 

The  next  two  years  I  spent  on  the 
farm  of  John  Cofell,  another  poor  white, 
He  had  no  slaves  himself  but  his 
wife  by  some  means  became  possessed 
of  a  single  female  slave,  who  with  myself 
made  up  the  list  of  servants.  The  women 
did  the  cooking,  and  helped  in  the  field  ; 
my  work  was  all  out  of  doors. 


42 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


Cofell  was  a  hard  man  to  work  for 
and  I  was  glad  when  I  got  through  with 
him. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


As  I  was  now  getting  to  be  a  good 
sized  boy,  I  began  to  take  an  interest  in 
the  things  that  interested  the  slaves 
in  general  and  to  take  part  in  joys  and 
sorrows  of  slave  life. 

COON  HUNTING. 

Although  the  slave’s  life  was  very  far 
from  being  pleasant  it  was  not  without 
its  pleasures  and  enjoyments,  for  our  mas¬ 
ters  were  willing  we  should  enjoy  our¬ 
selves  after  they  had  got  all  the  work 
they  thought  they  could  out  of  us. 

Oue  of  the  diversions  we  had  was 
coon  hunting. 

The  coon  is  an  animal  a  little  larger 
than  a  large  house  cat.  His  fur  is  gray 
mixed  with  bluish  white  and  brown.  His 
full  name  is  raccoon,  but  as  the  colored 


44 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


people  of  the  south  were  pretty  well  ac¬ 
quainted  with  him  they  generally  called 
him  “Coon.” 

He  lives  on  a  mixed  diet  of  meat, 
fish,  vegitables,  and  fruit,  seeming  to  be 
equally  fond  of  each. 

In  the  fall  of  the  year  he  is  often 

found  in  the  corn  fields,  where  he  feeds 

✓ 

upon  ripening  corn,  and  like  the  squirrel 
not  only  eats  it  on  the  spot,  but  carries 
it  away  to  his  hole,  which  is  generally  in 
a  hollow  tree  quite  a  distance  from  the 
cornfield. 

This  hole  is  the  home  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Coon  and  two  or  three  little  coons 
and  they  may  be  found  there  in  the  day¬ 
time  provided  you  know  where  the  hole 
is.  In  the  night-time  both  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Coon  and  the  little  Coons,  if  they  are  big 
enough  take  long  walks  for  their  health, 
and  it  is  then  that  they  visit  the  cornfields 
and  other  places  where  they  expect  to  find 
something  to  eat,  as  they  only  go  out  on 
dark  nights,  and  they  must  keep  a  sup- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


45 


ply  of  food  in  the  hole,  consequently  they 
carry  home  a  great  deal  of  food.  It  was 
not  claimed  that  the  coons  did  a  o-reat 

O 

amount  of  damage  in  the  cornfields. 

Sometimes  Mr.  Coon  goes  fish i no; 
and  he  generally  is  able  to  get  a  dinner 
of  fish  without  much  difficulty.  If  he 
finds  that  fish  are  scarce,  he  will  turn  his 
attention  to  his  friends  the  frogs,  of  whom 
he  is  as  fond  as  Frenchmen. 

When  he  gets  tired  of  fish  and  frogs 
he  eats  birds,  and  eggs,  when  he  can  get 
them,  and  he  does  not  hesitate  to  visit 
hen  coops  if  they  are  near. 

Now  it  happens  that  the  colored 
people  are  fonder  of  him  than  he  is 
of  them,  so  they  go  out  in  the  night  to 
see  him,  and  to  catch  him  if  they  can. 

Two  or  three  men  or  boys  generally 
go  together  on  a  coon  hunt,  taking  with 
them  one  or  more  dogs  who  are  trained 
for  this  purpose,  and  are  known  as  coon 
dogs. 

The  hunters  started  at  about  nine 


46 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


o’clock  in  the  evening;  taking  with  them 
a  number  of  pieces  of  fat  pine.  What  is 
called  fat  pine  comes  from  those  parts 
of  the  hard  pine  tree  that  contain  the 
greater  amount  of  pitch.  The  pine  is  cut 
into  pieces  about  eighteen  inches  long 
and  then  split  so  as  to  be  con  vein  tly  han¬ 
dled  and  is  used  for  a  torch.  When  the 
hunt  was  ready  to  start  they  go  to  the 
door  of  the  cabin  and  call  the  dogs  they 
happen  to  have.  These  dogs  are  sent 
out  ahead  and  seem  to  know  exactly 
what  is  expected  of  them. 

After  waiting  about  twenty  or  thirty 
minutes  the  hunters  start  out  themselves 
and  as  they  generally  know  about  what 
course  to  take  to  follow  after  the  dogs, 
listening  for  their  cry.  As  soon  as  the 
dogs  got  upon  the  track  of  the  coon  they 
set  up  a  peculiar  cry  well  known  to  the 
hunters,  who  then  follow  on  as  fast  as 
they  can.  Not  only  is  the  cry  of  the 
dogs  heard  by  the  hunter  but  also  by  the 
coon,  who  immediately  begins  to  take 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


47 


care  of  himself,  which  he  does  by  running 
in  the  opposite  direction  from  which  the 
sound  comes  to  him.  As  long  as  the  dogs 
are  at  a  distance  he  takes  things  easy, 
but  as  they  come  nearer  he  finds  that  it 
will  not  only  take  all  his  speed,  but  a 
large  amount  of  cunning  to  keep  clear  of 
the  dogs.  Up  to  this  time  he  has  been 
running  along  on  the  ground;  now  he  will 
jump  into  a  tree  and  running  along  from 
branch  to  branch,  and  tree  to  tree,  he 
will  continue  his  course  for  some  time 
without  coming  down  to  the  ground. 
Suddenly  he  stops  and  jumps  so  as  to 
strike  the  ground,  not  in  the  direction  he 
has  been  running  but  as  far  as  possible  to 
one  side,  and  in  this  way  often  reach  a 
place  of  safety  before  the  dogs  again  get 
upon  his  trail.  Should  he  fail  however 
he  will  soon  try  the  same  trick  again, 
and  if  a  stream  of  water  be  at  hand  he 
will  try  and  get  to  the  other  side,  and 
perhaps  he  may  run  in  the  water  a  little 
way  and  then  turn  aside  for  a  new  trail; 


48 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


but  if  the  dogs  are  well  trained  they  are 
very  apt  to  keep  pretty  near  him,  and  at 
last  he  takes  to  a  tree  as  a  last  resort, 
well  knowing  that  the  dogs  cannot  climb. 
Up  he  goes  to  a  limb  near  the  top  of  the 
tree.  The  dogs  gather  around  the  foot 
of  the  tree  and  set  up  another  sort  of  a 
cry,  which  is  nlso  well  understood  by  the 
hunters  who  come  on  as  fast  as  possible. 

When  they  get  to  the  tree  they  find 
the  dogs,  but  where  is  the  coon.  After 
looking  into  the  tree  for  a  few  moments, 
one  of  the  number  volunteers  to  go  up 
and  find  the  coon.  The  rest  stand  hold¬ 
ing  the  torches.  After  some  hard  climb¬ 
ing,  the  man  in  the  tree  gets  where  he 
can  see  the  light  shining  in  the  coon’s 
eyes,  when  he  immediately  calls  out, 
u  Here  he  is,  I  see  him,”  and  as  well  as 
he  can  points  out  the  location  of  the 
coon  to  those  below.  Pretty  soon  he 
reaches  the  end  of  the  limb  upon  which 
the  coon  is  seated,  but  the  coon  is  too 
far  out  on  the  limb  to  be  reached.  But 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


49 


the  man  wants  the  coon  just  as  much 
as  the  coon  wants  to  keep  out  of 
the  way  of  the  man.  So  a  sort  of 
race  begins;  the  man  going  as  far  out 
on  the  limb  as  he  can  with  safety,  and 
the  coon  going  out  as  far  as  the  small 
limb  would  hold  him.  Then  comes  the 
end.  The  man  braces  himself  and  sees 
that  he  has  a  safe  hold,  and  then  begins 
to  shake  the  limb.  Now,  although  the 
the  coon  is  almost  as  much  at  home  on 
a  tree  as  a  monkey  or  a  squirrel,  he 
cannot  hold  to  a  very  small  limb  a  great 
while.  He  will  then  go  back  a  little  way 
toward  the  man  as  if  to  frighten  him, 
but  finding  that  it  is  of  no  use,  goes 
back  again  and  looks  around.  The  shak¬ 
ing  of  the  limb  is  continued,  and  finding 
that  he  cannot  go  down  by  the  way  he 
came  up,  he  jumps  to  the  ground,  not 
straight  down,  but  out  at  an  angle  from 
the  trunk  of  the  tree,  so  as  to  strike  the 
ground  at  quite  a  distance  from  the  foot 
of  the  tree.  If  he  has  a  good  hold  he 


50 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


will  be  able  to  accomplish  this  ;  if  not, 
he  may  lose  his  hold  and  hill  directly  to 
the  ground.  In  either  case  he  will  find 
that  the  dogs  are  on  the  lookout  for  him, 
and  he  must  indeed  be  a  wise  coon  if  he 
succeeds  in  getting  away.  As  soon  as 
the  dogs  come  up  to  him  a  fight  ensues, 
in  which  the  dogs  always  are  the  victors. 
In  a  few  minutes  the  coon  is  dead,  and 
the  sport  is  over  for  the  night. 

The  game  is  carried  home  dressed, 
the  skin  being  carefully  saved  and  dried 
in  the  sun,  while  the  coon  himself  fur¬ 
nishes  a  good  meal  or  two  to  his  captors 
and  their  friends. 

There  is  another  animal  known  as  the 
opossum,  called  by  the  colored  people 
’possum.  This  animal  is  also  used  as 
food,  and  is  hunted  in  about  the  same 
manner  as  the  coon.  The  opossum  has 
a  long  tail  without  any  hair  on  it,  but 
nevertheless,  it  is  a  very  useful  member. 
It  is  used  as  a  sort  of  extra  hand,  the 
animal  having  full  control  of  it,  and 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


51 


when  pushed  will  use  it  to  hang  by  from 
a  branch  of  a  tree. 

The  coon  and  opossum  are  very  apt  to 
fight  each  other,  and  it  is  not  uncommon 
to  see  an  opossum  on  a  tree  fighting  a 
large  coon. 

The  female  has  a  pocket  as  pouch 
below  her  breast  in  which  she  covers 
her  young  when  they  are  small.  If  an 
opossum  is  being  chased  and  finds  that 
he  cannot  get  away,  he  will  pretend  to 
be  '  dead,  and  no  amount  of  poking  or 
pounding  will  make  him  show  any  signs 
of  life,  but  just  as  soon  as  he  finds  his 
enemy  out  of  the  way  he  will  look 
around,  and  if  he  finds  that  the  course 
is  clear  he  immediately  becomes  very 
much  alive,  and  takes  himself  out  of 
harm’s  way  as  soon  as  possible,  and  being 
a  good  runner  it  does  not  take  him  long 
to  get  to  a  safe  place. 

Where  the  "colored  people  used  to 
catch  an  opossum,  one  ol  them  would 
pick  him  up  and  put  his  tail  into  the 


52 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


cleft  of  a  split  stick,  and  putting  the 
stick  on  the  shoulder  went  carrying  him 
home  in  the  same  manner  as  a  bundle 
would  be  carried.  When  the  opossum 
is  killed  his  skin  is  not  taken  off,  but  he 
is  put  into  a  kettle  of  hot  water  and 
scalded  till  the  hair  comes  off,  as  do  the 
butchers  of  the  hog,  where  he  is  treated 
in  like  manner.  The  opossum  is  gener¬ 
ally  cooked  by  being  roasted  in  his  skin, 
and  when  served  with  roasted  sweet  pota¬ 
toes  makes  a  fine  dish  that  is  much  ad¬ 
mired  by  the  colored  people. 

The  slaves  believed  that  the  wild 
game  was  intended  for  them,  for  while  the 
master  was  enjoying  his  roast  beef  or 
lamb,  he  did  not  think  that  his  slaves 
needed  anything  of  the  sort,  but  he  had 
no  objection  to  the  slaves’  having  any¬ 
thing  the}'  could  get  to  eat,  provided 
they  got  it  without  any  expense  to  their 
master. 

Black  bears  were  to  be  found  in  the 
woo  ls,  and  though  bear  meat  was  con- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


53 


sidered  good  eating,  the  slaves  gave  the 
bears  a  very  wide  berth,  for  in  order  to 
hunt  him  a  gun  was  needed,  and  the 
slaves  were  not  allowed  to  have  any 
such  weapons. 

Once  in  a  while  wild  turkeys  would 
be  caught  in  the  woods.  Panthers,  wild 
cats,  and  foxes  were  somewhat  common, 
but  these  were  not  meddled  with  by  the 
slaves.  There  were  several  kinds  of 
poisonous  snakes  in  the  woods  and 
swamps,  but  it  was  not  often  that  the 

slaves  were  bitten  by  them. 

•/ 


CHAPTER  V. 


rpHE  slaves  were  unlearned,  for  in  slav¬ 
ery  times  it  was  considered  a  crime 
to  teach  a  slave  to  read,  and  it  was  not 
very  often  that  a  colored  person  could 
be  found  who  could  either  read  or  write. 
But  what  they  lacked  in  book  know¬ 
ledge  was  sometimes  made  up  to  them 
in  traditions.  These  traditions  were 
many  of  them  curious  and  unreasonable, 
but,  nevertheless,  were  believed  impli- 
citly  by  the  colored  people,  and  often¬ 
times  the  white  people  were  more  or  less 
believers  in  the  traditions  and  supersti¬ 
tions  of  the  colored  people. 

It  was  very  common  for  the  white 
people  to  have  their  children  cared  for 
by  colored  women,  whom  the  children 
used  to  call  mammie,  and  not  infrequently 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


would  these  women  remain  in  the  family 
year  after  year,  caring  for  the  children 
of  one  generation  till  they  grew  up,  and 
their  places  filled  by  the  children  of  the 
second,  and  sometimes  of  the  third, 
generation.  As  these  women  had  most 
of  the  care  of  the  children  from  their 
earliest  days,  a  very  strong  love  always 
existed  between  the  children  and  the 
colored  mammies  ;  and  it  is  not  strange 
that  the  children  were  more  or  less  af¬ 
fected  by  the  oft-repeated  stories  told 
them  hy.  these  mammas,  sometimes  to 
amuse  them  and  at  other  times  to 
frighten  them  into  good  behavior. 

As  all  the  slaves  believed  in  ghosts, 
the  children,  both  black  and  white, 
were  often  told  that  unless  they  would 
be  good,  such  and  such  a  ghost  would 
come  and  get  them.  One  very  tangible 
ghost  was  the  Bogey  man,  who  was  sup¬ 
posed  to  have  especial  care  of  naughty 
children.  Nearly  all  the  children  had  a 
very  fine  belief  in  them  until  they  were 


56 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


grown  up  men  and  women.  Sometimes 
their  faith  was  strengthened  by  the  sight 
of  a  frightful  figure  dressed  in  white, 
with  an  ugly  looking  face,  which  cut  up 
strange  capers,  but  it  nevertheless  took 
good  care  to  keep  out  of  harm’s  way, 
and  also  not  to  be  seen  at  very  near 
distance,  so  as  to  be  recognized  as  one  of 

7  O 

the  family  slaves  or  field  hands. 

Another  tradition  was  that  concerning 
the  owl,  who  the  slaves  considered  their 
especial  friend  and  protector.  Now,  the 
the  colored  man  had  some  peculiar  habits 
which  would  hardly  be  tolerated  in  good 
society.  Not  feeling  that  they  were 
getting  all  that  belonged  to  them,  or,  at 
least,  all  they  wanted,  they  sometimes 
stole  corn,  wheat,  peas,  pork,  mutton,  or 
anything  else  they  could  eat,  or  that 
had  a  market  value.  What  they  wanted 
to  eat  was  cooked  in  the  cabin  on  the 
sly  or  in  the  night.  Sometimes  they 
were  caught  cooking  the  stolen  food, 
which,  of  course,  was  different  from  their 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


57 


regular  allowance.  Then  they  were 
questioned  as  to  where  they  got  it,  and 
if  they  could  manage  to  make  the 
master  believe  that  it  did  not  come  from 
his  plantation,  nothing  was  said ;  but 
those  guilty  were  punished  the  next  day. 
So  the  slaves  soon  became  aware  that 
the  crime  was  not  in  the  stealing,  but  in 
stealing  from  their  own  masters,  and 
getting  caught  at  it. 

But  when  a  slave  had  anything  to 
sell,  he  had  to  be  doubly  careful.  The 
very  fact  that  he  offered  anything  for 
sale  was  considered  evidence  that  it  was 
stolen.  It  was  unlawful  for  a  white  man 
to  buy  anything  of  a  slave  unless  he 
could  give  a  good  account  of  the  source 
from  which  he  y;ot  it ;  and  as  the  masters 
themselves  generally  bought  what  the 
slaves  had  a  right  to  sell,  that  is,  what¬ 
ever  they  raised  by  working  over- time 
in  their  little  yards,  or,  perhaps  a  hog 
or  two  and  a  few  chickens  they  were 
allowed  to  keep,  there  was  no  occasion 


58 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


for  the  slave  to  offer  anything  for  sale 
anywhere  else.  But,  for  all  this  the 
slaves  did  have  things  to  sell,  and  they 
well  knew  where  to  sell  them.  There 
was  always  some  poor  white  who  would 
either  buy  the  goods  or  sell  them  for  the 
benefit  of  the  slaves — for  a  considera¬ 
tion.  As  this  man  generally  lived  at 
some  distance  from  this  plantation,  the 
stolen  goods  would  have  to  be  taken  to 
him  secretly,  and  in  the  night,  for  the 
night  was  the  slaves’  holiday. 

The  slave  would  eat  his  supper  and 
take  a  nap.  He  would  keep  very  quiet 
until  he  thought  that  the  “  pattie  rollers” 
(patrolman)  had  gone  home,  when  he 
would  quietly  go  to  the  place  where  he 
had  hid  his  stores.  Taking:  them  in  a 
bag,  which  he  would  throw  over  his 
shoulders,  he  would  start  for  the  house 
of  the  poor  white. 

And  now  the  owl  plays  his  part.  As 
he  sees  or  hears  the  man  he  is  of  course 
disturbed,  and  makes  much  noise  ;  but 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


59 


the  slave  believes  that  if  he  calls  from 
the  right  side  it  is  an  omen  of  good  luck, 
and  understands  the  owl  to  sav, "  Hoo, 
hoo,  hoo,”  and  goes  about  his  business 
without  fear  of  being  caught.  But 
should  the  owl  say,  "  Hoo,  hoo,  hoo,  ha, 
ha,”  he  believes  that  there  is  danger 
near,  and  hides  himself  at  once,  and 
will  keep  hid  as  long  as  the  owl  calls  in 
that  way.  When  it  changes  its  tune  to 
"Hoo,  hoo,  hoo,”  the  slave  moves  on, 
believing  that  the  changed  calls  of  the 
owl  were  intended  for  his  especial  benefit. 

The  slaves  not  only  believed  that  the 
owl  was  their  friend,  and  that  his  lan¬ 
guage  was  intended  entirely  for  them, 
but  also  believed  that  this  language  was 
not  understood  by  the  white  folks.  For 
example,  suppose  a  master  having  no 
overseers  should  send  a  number  of  slaves 
into  the  field  to  hoe  corn,  they  might 
work  well  for  a  time,  but  as  the  day 
grew  warm  they  would  get  tired,  and 
perhaps  stop  to  rest  in  the  woods  that 


60 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


skirted  the  cornfield.  The  owl  who 
might  happen  to  be  near,  having  become 
accustomed  to  their  presence,  would  pay 
no  attention  to  them,  but  if  a  white  man 
entered  the  woods  he  would  be  likely  to 
make  a  different  noise  from  that  of  the 
slaves,  and  the  owl  would  at  once  be¬ 
come  aware  that  something  had  hap¬ 
pened  a  -little  different  from  what  had 
been  going  on.  and  would  begin  to  cry, 
“If oo,  hoo,  boo,”  and  the  slaves  would  at 
once  take  this  as  a  warning  that  some- 
body  was  near,  and  go  to  work  again. 
If  the  owl  cried,  “  Hoo,  hoo,  hoo,  ha,  ha, 
ha,”  they  would  know  that  somebody 
was  very  near,  and  would  work  with  all 
their  might,  until  very  likely  their  mas¬ 
ter  would  come  in  sight,  and.  seeing 
them  doing  their  best,  would  have  no 
fault  to  find.  Consequently  the  slave 
believed  that  he  did  not  know  that  the 
owl  had  told  them  of  his  coming. 

The  slaves,  like  some  other  laborers, 
would  work  only  when  obliged  to,  and 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


Cl 


when  the  horn  blew  for  dinner  or  sup¬ 
per,  they  were  always  ready  to  leave 
their  work.  The  mules  that  were  used 
to  plow  and  cultivate,  and  other  kinds  of 
farm  work  soon  learned  to  know  the 
sound  of  the  horn  as  well  as  the  slaves, 
and  would  want  to  stop  when  they 
heard  it  ;  so  that  if  the  master  came 
into  the  field  and  asked  the  slaves  why 
they  did  not  finish  a  certain  piece  of 
work  before  they  went  to  dinner,  or 
why  they  had  left  the  plow  in  the  middle 
of  the  furrow  instead  of  going  to  the 
end,  the  slaves  would  reply  that  the 
mule  heard  the  dinner  horn  and  would 
not  work  any  more  until  he  had  had 
his  dinner. 

There  was  always  a  kind  of  strife 
between  master  and  slave,  the  master 
on  the  one  hand  trying  to  get  all  the 
work  he  possibly  could  out  of  the  slaves 
at  the  least  possible  expense,  and  the 
slaves  on  their  part  trying  to  get  out  of 
all  the  work  they  could,  and  to  take 


62 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


every  possible  advantage  of  their  master, 
naturally  feeling  that  all  they  could  get 
out  of  him  was  but  a  poor  sustenence  for 
the  work  they  did.  And  whenever  any¬ 
thing  in  nature,  such  as  the  cry  of  an 
owl,  a  cloud  over  the  moon,  a  rainy 
night,  the  barking  of  a  dog,  or  any  other 
circumstance  seemed  to  aid  them  in 
carrying  out  their  plans,  they  thought 
that  it  was  intended  especially  for  their 
benefit. 


C  H  APTER  VI. 


JOEING  out  of  doors  a  great  deal  of  the 
time,  and  having  no  books,  they 
learned  many  things  from  the  book 
of  Nature,  which  were  unknown  to  white 
people,  notwithstanding  their  knowledge 
ol  books.  And  it  often,  happened  that 
the  master  would  be  guided  by  the  slave 
as  to  the  proper  time  to  plant  his  corn, 
sow  his  grain,  or  harvest  his  crops,  and 
many  things  of  this  kind,  which  were  to 
the  master  a  source  of  care  and  anxiety, 
seemed  to  come  to  the  slave  as  it  were 
by  instinct  and  not  often  did  they  made 
mistake  in  their  prophecies. 

MERRY-MAKING. 

Christmas  was  the  greatest  holiday 
time  that  the  slaves  had  ;  for  coming  as 
it  did  at  a  season  when  there  was  not 
as  much  to  do  as  at  other  seasons,  they 


64 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


were  allowed  some  time  to  enjoy  them¬ 
selves  On  many  plantations  the  slaves 
were  allowed  to  have  a  full  week  to 
themselves.  The  holiday  season  began 
with  Christmas  eve,  when  the  slaves 
generally  had  some  sort  of  a  meeting. 
Some  of  the  people,  especially  the  young 
factor,  would  have  a  dance  in  one  of  the 
cabins  of  the  plantation. 

One  of  the  slaves  would  plan  for  a 
dance  several  weeks  before  the  time  and 
word  would  be  sent,  not  only  to  the 
hands  on  the  plantation,  but  also  to  the 
other  plantations  near  by,  and  when  the 
time  came,  quite  a  number  would  gather 
at  the  appointed  time,  which  would  be 
about  eight  o’clock  as  told  by  the  eveniug 
star,  for  the  slaves  had  no  watches  or 
clocks,  and  consequently  were  obliged  to 
depend  upon  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars  and 
other  things  in  nature  to  tell  the  time, 
except  of  course,  that  the  hours  of  labor 
and  meal  times  were  regulated  by  the 
watch  or  clock  of  the  master. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


65 


Sometimes  there  would  be  a  supper 
at  the  gathering,  in  which  case  it  would 
be  eaten  in  the  first  part  of  the  evening. 
This  supper  would  consist  of  hominy,  hoe 
cakes,  sweet  potatoes,  bacon,  lamb  coon 
or  ’possum,  or  any  other  kind  of  meat 
that  could  be  obtained.  Sometimes  the 
meat  would  be  given  by  the  masters 
who  might  add  also  flour  and  molasses. 

Sometimes  the  small  twigs  and  young 
needles  of  the  hard  pine  tree  were  used 
for  tea.  Coffee  was  made  of  corn  or  wheat 
burnt  and  pounded  in  a  mortar  if  one  was 
to  be  had,  otherwise  the  corn  would  be 
put  in  a  cloth  and  pounded  with  an  axe 
or  iron  wedge  We  also  had  apple 
juice  (cider  brand),  old  rye  whiskey, 
sometimes  called  “old  red  eye,”  and  peach 
brandy.  These  liquors  were  allowed  by 
the  master  if  the  slaves  could  buy  them 
themselves  from  the  money  they  earned 
by  over  work.  Nearly  every  plantation 
had  its  own  still,  so  that  these  liquors 
were  both  common  and  cheap. 


66 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


After  slipper  the  room  was  cleared 
and  made  ready  for  the  dance.  If  some 
slave  could  be  found  who  had  an  old 
fiddle  and  could  play  it  at  all,  he  was 
called  on  to  furnish  music ;  if  not,  some 
one  would  take  an  old  tin  pan  and  use 
it  like  a  tambourine.  Two  or  three 
others  “  pat  Jubo,”  that  is,  would  keep 
time  by  patting  their  knees  with  their 
hands,  and  to  this  primitive  music  the 
dance  would  go  on  hour  after  hour  till 
nearly,  if  not  quite,  broad  daylight.  This 
would,  however,  be  more  or  less  singing 
of  words  that  were  often  made  on  the 
spot. 

“  I  love  my  darlin’,  dat  I  do  ; 

Don’t  you  love  Miss  Susy,  too?” 

These  words  would  be  sung  over 
and  over  ago. 

u  Sally’s  in  de  garden  siftin’  sand, 

Aud  all  she  want  is  a  honey  man. 

De  reason  why  I  wouldn’t  marry, 

Because  she  was  my  cousin 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


07 


O,  row  de  boat  ashore,  hey,  hey, 

Sally’s  in  de  garden  siftin’  sand.” 

Some  slaves  were  good  dancers, 
especially  the  young  girls,  some  of  whom 
could  dance  so  steadily  that  if  a  glass  of 
water  were  placed  on  their  heads  none 
of  the  water  would  be  spilt.  1  have 
often  seen  a  girl  dance  for  ten  minutes 
with  a  glass  cup  filled  with  water  on  her 
head  without  any  of  it  being  spilt. 

If  the  next  day  was  Sunday  or  was  a 
holiday,  the  dance  would  continue  all 
night.  The  young  men  would  dance  all 
night  till  broad  daylight,  and  then  go 
home  with  the  girls  in  the  morning;. 

O  O 

In  some  other  cabin,  perhaps  on  the 
same  plantation,  while  the  young  people 
were  dancing,  the  old  ones  would  be 
holding  a  prayer  u  meetin’  ”,  notice  hav¬ 
ing  been  sent  out  as  in  the  case  of  the 
dance.  As  none  of  the  slaves  could 
read,  there  were  no  books  at  these 
meetings.  When  the  folks  got  together 

o  o  o 

some  one  would  begin  with  a  prayer,  or 


68  RECOLLECTIONS  OF 

perhaps  with  a  hymn,  in  which  he  or 
she  would  be  followed  by  all  in  the  room, 
unless  it  happened  that  they  did  not 
know  the  piece,  which  was  perhaps  being 
made  up  as  the  singer  went  along. 

Of  course  there  were  no  musical  con¬ 
ductors,  but  the  slaves  in  part  made  up 
for  this  lack  by  keeping  time  with  their 
feet  and  hands.  These  meetings  would 
sometimes  last  all  night,  and  the  slaves, 
ignorant  as  they  were,  always  enjoyed 
them. 

The  following  hymn  was  one  of  the 
most  popular,  and  was  sure  to  be  sung 
at  these  meetings: 

u  Roll  Jordan  roll,  roll  Jordan  roll, 

I  want  to  be  in  de  kingdom, 

To  heah  ole  Jordan  roll. 

You  see  dat  falcon  a-lighting, 

Yrou  see  dat  falcon  a-lighting, 

To  heah  ole  Jordan  roll. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


69 


You  see  ole  Massa  Jesus  a-coming. 

You  see  ole  Massa  Jesus  a-coming, 

Yrou  see  o'e  Massa  Jesus  a-coming, 

To  heah  ole  Jordan  roll. 

Roll  Jordon  roll,  roll  Jordan  roll, 

I  want  to  go  to  Heaven  when  I  die. 

To  heah  ole  Jordan  roll.” 

As  I  have  said  before,  slaves  were 
very  musical  in  their  wav,  which,  if  not 
up  to  the  modern  ideas  of  music,  was  such 
that  they  derived  very  much  enjoyment 
from  it.  At  nearly  all  times  one  would 
hear  the  slaves  singing  snatches  of  old 
plantation  songs,  which  for  want  of 
space  I  cannot  print,  but  the  following 
is  a  part  of  one  of  the  best  known 
songs  : 

o 


“When  I  was  a  little  pickannirmy,  playin’  around 
de  cabin  door, 

I  was  de  happiest  little  darkey  in  de  land, 


70  RECOLLECTIONS  OF 

Now  I’m  getting  ole  and  feeble  and  my  hair  is 
turnin’  gray, 

And  I  am  goin’  back  to  Georgia,  if  I  can. 

Good  (de  Georgie,  happy  land  ! 

Gwinc  to  live  and  die  in  good  ole  Georgie 
land.” 


CHAPTER  VII. 


HE  following  year  after  I  left  Cofell  I 


went  to  work  for  Darias  White  who 
was  a  step  son  of  my  old  master,  and  I 
continued  to  work  for  him  three  years* 
His  business  was  to  get  out  oak  and  hard 
pine  lumber  most  of  which  was  used  in 
ship-building. 

All  the  time  I  worked  for  White  I 
drove  team,  and  had  charge  of  the  mules 
and  one  horse.  The  horse  was  kept  by 
my  master  for  his  own  use.  The  mules 
were  used  entirely  for  teaming.  Besides 
these  he  had  a  large  number  of  oxen  that 
were  used  for  bawling  the  great  logs  out 
of  the  woods. 

These  logs  were  of  the  largest  kind 
and  were  often  one  hundred  feet  or  more 
in  length.  The  but  end  of  the  log  was 


72 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


fastened  to  the  axletree  of  an  enormous 
pair  of  wheels,  from  the  axletree  projec¬ 
ted  a  long  tongue,  to  which  was  attached 
a  single  yoke  of  oxen.  In  front  of  this 
yoke  of  oxen  there  was  sometimes  as 
many  as  fifteen  yoke  of  oxen  one  ahead 
of  the  other  and  all  fastened  by  a  chain 
to  the  end  of  the  tongue.  A  team  of  this 
kind  required  about  eight  drivers.  Each 
driver  was  seated  on  the  yoke  of  one 
pair  of  oxen,  and  would  drive  that  yoke 
and  the  yoke  in  front. 

Instead  of  a  whip  such  as  is  used  in 
the  north,  the  drivers  would  have  a  long 
slender  birch  rod,  which  when  green 
would  be  almost  as  durable  as  a  raw-hide. 

The  small  end  of  the  log  was  also 
hung  between  a  large  pair  of  wheels.  To 
the  tongue  of  which  was  fastened  a  rope 
from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet  long  with  a 
a  knot  in  the  end.  The  end  of  this  rope 
was  given  into  the  hands  of  a  strong 
active  negro,  whose  business  it  was  to 
steer  the  logs.  When  everything  was 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


73 


ready  the  word  to  start  would  be  given 
and  away  the  logs  went,  the  oxen  pulling 
with  all  their  might  and  the  log  drivers 
shouting  at  the  top  o'*  their  voices. 

The  man  with  the  guiding  ropes  of 
the  rear  wheels  sometimes  on  the  logs 
sometimes  on  the  ground  at  one  side, 
and  sometimes  at  the  other  side  working 
with  all  his  strength  to  keep  the  log  in 
its  place,  and  so  the  procession  proceeded 
from  the  woods  to  the  river  bank,  where 
the  log  would  be  left  till  enough  were 
got  together  to  ship  to  market. 

Very  often  I  had  to  drive  oxen 
myself,  though  my  business  generally 
was  to  drive  the  mules,  drawing  grain 
and  fodder  for  the  oxen.  Sometimes 
the  mules  would  be  hitched  in  front  oi 
the  ox  team.  I  liked  this  sort  of  work 
very  well  as  it  was  not  often  bard,  and 
there  was  a  good  deal  oi  excitement  about 

it. 

Mr.  White  was  a  good  master  and 
took  good  care  oi  his  slaves,  and  was 


74 


RECOLLECTIONS  OP 


never  known  to  whip  one.  He  generally 
had  about  forty  hands  in  all.  Often  at 
the  end  of  the  year  a  slave  who  had  done 
well,  would  receive  a  present  of  five  or 
ten  dollars  from  him. 

He  liked  to  see  his  slaves  look  well 
and  they  soon  learned  to  keep  clean  and 
to  look  as  respectable  as  possible. 

Their  clothes  were  of  heavy  white 
cotton  cloth,  which  would  be  carefully 
washed  each  week,  so  that  as  they  went 
to  the  woods  on  Monday  morning,  they 
would  present  quite  a  smart  appearance. 

Had  all  masters  been  like  Darias 
White  there  would  have  been  far  less 

trouble  with  the  slaves,  as  under  such 

/ 

masters  they  were  generally  happy  and 
contented. 

Many  of  the  slaves  camped  in  the 
woods  through  the  entire  lumber  season. 

A  camp  would  be  made  of  logs,  bark 
and  pieces  of  board,  which  would  enclose 
the  camp  on  three  sides,  on  the  fourth  a 
large  fire  would  be  built  at  night,  at 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


which  we  did  our  cooking.  Every  even¬ 
ing  after  supper  had  been  disposed  of  the 
slaves  would  spend  the  time  till  bed  time 
in  sinonno-  and  telling  stories. 

After  I  got  through  with  Mr.  White 
I  went  to  live  with  Elisha  Buck  with 
whom  I  lived  one  year.  Buck  was  a 
mean  poor  white  who  had  a  large  farm* 
and  owned  some  slaves,  and  I  made  the 
eighth  hand  on  the  farm.  He  did  not 
treat  us  at  all  well,  and  it  was  not  often 
that  we  had  all  we  wanted  to  eat.  One 
day  while  I  lived  on  his  place  I  went  in 
company  with  another  slave  into  the 
woods,  and  caught  a  pig,  which  we 
knocked  in  the  head  with  a  large  pine 
knot,  which  we  called  a  lighted  knot,  but 
it  so  happened  that  the  owner  of  the  pig 
was  in  the  woods,  and  hearing  the  pig 
squeel  came  to  see  what  the  matter  was 
We  did  not  get  away  before  he  saw  us  so 
he  went  directly  to  Buck  and  told  him 
that  two  of  his  niggers  had  been  stealing 
a  pig.  We  were  immediatly  called  out 


76 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


of  the  field  by  Buck,  and  he  told  the 
owner  of  the  pig  that  he  could  give  us 
a  whipping,  but  that  he  could  not  strike 
us  on  the  back,  so  we  got  about  thirty-nine 
lashes  each,  and  then  were  let  go. 

It  did  not  do  much  good  to  either 
of  us  for  on  the  following  Sunday  I  went 
into  the  woods  again  and  got  another  pig 
which  I  dressed  in  the  nmht 

o 

As  I  did  not  have  every  atvantage  of 
a  first-class  slaughter  house  I  was  obliged 
to  manage  as  best  I  could.  Accordingly  I 
built  a  fire  and  gave  the  pig  a  good  singe¬ 
ing  and  while  he  was  warm  from  the 
effects  of  the  fire.  I  put  him  into  water, 
and  then  scraped  him  with  a  case-knife 
and  finally  got  him  clean. 

When  he  was  properly  dressed  I 
carried  him  on  my  shoulder  about  three 
miles,  and  turned  him  over  to  a  "poor 
white”who  took  him  to  a  neighboring  town 
the  next  day,  and  sold  him  for  me.  I  got 
back  to  quarters  before  the  hands  were 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


77 


called  in  the  morning  so  that  no  one 
knew  where  I  had  been. 

In  due  time  the  "poor  white”  gave 
me  my  share  of  the  money  he  got  for  tire 
pig.  With  this  money  I  bought  some 
cloth,  which  a  white  woman  made  into  a 
coat  and  a  pair  of  pants  for  me. 

A  few  days  afterwards  I  wore  my 
new  clothes  to  a  "big  meeting,”  that  is  a 
meeting  in  the  woods  something  like  a 
camp  meeting.  But  the  fact  that  they 
were  paid  for  with  stolen  goods  did  not 
trouble  me  at  all. 

The  negroes  at  the  south  seemed  to 
think  that  everything  that  they  could  get 
hold  of  belonged  to  them. 

In  New  England  this  code  of  morals 
would  appear  rather  out  of  place.  But 
if  you  consider  that  a  strong  able  bodied 
slave  was  required  to  work  a  full  year  for 
his  board  and  clothes.  And  not  only  this, 
but  tint  he  was  expected  to  cook  his  own 
food  after  doing  his  day’s  work,  and  it  will 
be  remembered  that  the  entire  cost  o 


78 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


food  furnished  him  was  in  most  cases  less 
than  thirty  dollars  per  year,  and  that  the 
entire  outfit  in  the  shape  of  clothes  cost 
less  than  twelve  dollars  per  year,  making 
a  grand  total  of  less  than  forty  two  dollars 
per  year  or  three  dollars  and  fifty  cents 
per  month.  The  slave  could  hardly  be 
expected  to  feel  the  same  regards  for  his 
master’s  rights  as  he  would  have  done  had 
he  been  a  free  man,  properly  treated  and 
justly  paid. 

While  I  was  living  with  this  man 
my  mother’s  health  began  to  fail,  and  I 
frequently  went  to  see  her.  As  her 
friends  gathered  around  her  she  would  tell 
them  that  while  she  did  not  expect  to  live 
to  see  it  she  hoped  that  the  time  would 
soon  come  when  all  the  slaves  would  be 
free. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  had  at  this 
time  been  in  progress  some  months,  and 
although  our  masters  tried  to  keep  all 
matters  relating  to  the  war  from  their 
slaves,  the  slaves  managed  to  get  hold 


79 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 

of  a  good  deal  of  news,  and  the  idea  was 
fast  gaining  ground,  that  in  some  way 
they  were  soon  to  be  free.  As  the  time 
went  on  my  mother  became  weak  and  I 
obtained  leave  to  be  with  her  nights,  and 
my  hither  got  leave  to  be  with  her  three 
nights  in  a  week  and  all  day  Sunday. 
At  this  time  he  lived  about  eight  miles 
from  my  mother’s  cabin,  and  of  course 
had  to  walk  both  ways  every  time  he 
came  to  see  her.  Both  my  father  and 
I  were  with  mother  when  she  died, 
which  took  place  about  nine  o’clock  one 
August  night. 

She  was  buried  in  the  same  manner 
that  most  of  the  slaves  were.  A  negro 
carpenter  made  a  rough  pine  box,  without 
lining,  trimming,  or  paint.  Her  only 
shrowd  was  a  white  night-dress,  yet  the 
tender  hands  of  her  loved  ones  smoothed 
this  out  as  carefully  as  if  it  had  been  of 
the  finest  satin.  A  few  of  the  nearest 
friends  and  neighbors  gathered  round  the 


80 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


rough  coffin  to  take  a  last  look  at  the 
dear  face,  then  the  cover  was  nailed  on, 
the  coffin  placed  in  a  cart  and  carried 
to  a  little  sandy  knoll,  and  beneath  the 
shade  of  a  few  stunted  pines  a  shallow 
grave  was  dug,  in  which  without  cere¬ 
mony  the  coffin  was  placed  and  the 
sandy  earth  heaped  above  it.  Not  a 
prayer  was  said  nor  a  hymn  sung  for  the 
white  folks  seemed  to  feel  that  the  sooner 
the  matter  was  over  the  more  time  the 
slaves  would  have  for  work,  and  the  slaves 
—well  they  were  not  supposed  to  feel  at 
all,  they  were  only  cattle.  Nevertheless 
the  form  that  now  lies  in  that  unmarked 
grave,  far  in  the  sunny  south,  was  that  of 
my  mother,  and  my  mother  was  just  as 
dear  to  me,  kind  reader,  as  your  mother  is 
to  you;  and  though  she  died  a  slave,  and 
lies  buried  where  I  may  never  visit  her 
grave,  1  hope  by  the  grace  of  Him  who 
died  that  that  we  might  live,  to  meet  her 
in  that  land  where  all  shall  be  free,  and 


SLATERY  times. 


bl 


where  there  shall  be  no  night  nor  any 
sorrow,  and  where  there  shall  be  none  to 
oppress. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


short  time  after  my  mother  died,  I  got 


tired  of  living  with  Burk  and  ran 
away  to  the  woods.  I  would  stay  in  the 
woods  in  the  day  time,  and  in  the  night 
I  would  go  to  the  house  of  a  poor  white 
woman  who  had  been  a  friend  to  my 
mother.  After  I  had  stayed  away  about 
a  week  I  got  tired  of  that  sort  of  life 
and  went  back  to  Mr.  Buck.  When  I 
got  back  Buck  called  two  of  his  slaves, 
who  helped  him  to  tie  me,  and  then  he 
gave  me  a  whipping  on  the  legs  with  a 
cowhide.  I  did  not  run  away  again,  and 
for  a  time  he  treated  me  better  than  he 
had  done  before. 

As  the  years  of  my  service  drew  to  a 
close  he  grew  more  close,  but  at  times 
was  unkind  to  me.  He  did  not  try  to 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


83 


injure  me  again  till  the  end  of  my  ser¬ 
vice,  not  daring  to  touch  me  any  more, 
while  my  term  of  service  lasted.  On  the 
last  day  he  came  to  me  and  said  he  was 
going  to  whip  me.  I  said  he  should  not 
and  started  to  run.  He  ran  after  me, 
but  did  not  catch  me  until  I  got  on  the 
old  Parker  Plantation.  I  then  raised 
my  hand  and  told  him  that  he  could  not 
touch  me  He  went  to  my  mistress  and 
told  her  that  he  wanted  to  whip  me, 
but  she  informed  him  that  as  I  had  got 
through  my  term  of  service,  he  had 
nothing  more  to  do  with  me,  and  so  the 
matter  ended. 

My  mistress,  however,  called  me  to 
her  and  told  me  to  look  out  for  myself 
for  Mr.  Buck,  she  said,  would  be  likely 
to  injure  me  if  he  got  a  chance  when  I 
was  off  that  plantation. 

The  following  January  I  was  let  to  a 
man  of  the  name  of  John  Littlefield.  He 
was  a  poor  white  who  had  two  women 
slaves  and  a  slave  of  his  own.  He  was  a 


84 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


small  farmer.  I  stayed  with  him  some 
months,  and  being  near  the  old  plan¬ 
tation  I  saw  my  owners  quite  often. 
One  day  Miss  Annie  said  to  me,  “  Allen, 
if  the  war  continues  shall  you  run  away 
or  will  you  stay  with  me?”  I  told  her 
that  I  did  not  want  to  leave  her  and 
would  not  run  off  to  the  Yankees,  1 
was  on  good  terms  with  Miss  Annie  for 
there  was  only  a  few  days  difference  in 
our  ages,  I  being  the  older,  and  we  were 
both  still  young  and  did  not  feel  the  dif¬ 
ference  in  our  stations,  it  was  true  that 
she  owned  me  but  as  she  had  up  to 
this  time  had  no  care  of  her  own  property, 
she  did  not  seem  to  relize  that  I  was  her 
slave.  And  as  I  had  slways  been  well  treet- 
ed  by  all  the  Parker  family  I  had  no  feel¬ 
ings  for  any  of  them  except  love  and  re¬ 
spect.  The  plantation  had  always  been  my 
home  when  I  was  not  out  at  work,  either 
alone  or  with  my  mother  so,  that  I  felt  as 
if  in  a  measure  I  was  one  of  the  family, 
However  in  common  with  all  the  Ne- 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


85 


groes  I  had  inbribed  very  strong  yearn¬ 
ing  for  freedom  and  was  hoping  that  in 
some  way  my  freedom  would  come  to  me. 
But  up  to  the  time  of  my  mother’s  death 
I  had  no  idea  of  running  away  to  stay? 
But  while  I  was  with  Littlefield  we  kept 
hearing  more  and  more  about  the  ’’Yan¬ 
kees”  and  the  more  we  heard,  the  more 
uneasy  we  became.  Many  of  the  slaves 
from  the  plantation  had  been  sent  to  Rich¬ 
mond  for  fear  they  would  run  away,  but 
none  of  the  Parker  slaves  had  been  sent 
offj  nor  had  any  of  them  ran  away. 

But  as  the  summer  months  passed, 
those  of  us  that  were  left  on  the  planta¬ 
tion,  felt  more  and  more  restless,  for  add¬ 
ed  to  our  increasing  desire  for  liberty 
we  could  not  help  feeling  the  xtra  re¬ 
straint  that  was  put  upon  all  the  slaves  in 
the  vicinity  to  prevent  them  from  run¬ 
ning  away. 

The  roads  were  patrolled  and  every 
effort  was  made  to  keep  the  slaves  on 
the  plantations  at  night,  and  it  was  very 


86 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


hard  to  get  a  pass  to  leave  home  at  all; 
but  nevertheless  we  did  manage  to  get 
away  quite  often  and  many  conferences 
were  held,  in  which  the  doings  of  the 
“Yankees”  were  talked  over,  and  ideas 
in  relation  to  freedom,  exchanged  by  the 
slaves. 

During  the  month  of  August.  1862 
slaves  living  on  the  adjoining  plantation 
together  with  myself  began  to  form  plans 
of  in  some  way  getting  to  the  “yankees” 
We  used  to  get  together  when  we  could 
and  talk  our  plans  over,  but  for  a  time 
did  nothing  else.  But  finally  finding 
that  lots  of  the  slaves  from  the  neighbor- 
ing  plantation  were  running  away  we 
concluded  that  we  would  take  our  chance, 
as  soon  as  we  could  get  any. 

One  day  we  heard  a  gun  fire  about 
four  o’clock  in  the  morning  and  upon 
gathering  in  the  morning  to  see  what  the 
matter  was  we  saw  a  United  States  gun¬ 
boat  out  in  the  river.  As  this  was  by 
no  means  the  first  we  had  seen  of  Uncle 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


87 


Sam’s  vessels  we  were  not  at  all  surprised 
and  in  fact  for  some  da  vs  we  had  agreed 
that  the  next  time  a  vessel  came  up  the 
river  we  would  tr v  and  <ret  on  board  her. 
That  night  after  it  was  quiet,  my  three 
friends,  whose  names  were  Joe,  Arden 
and  Dick  all  slaves  of  one  Robert  Felton 
came  to  see  me.  We  talked  the  matter 
over  and  concluded  to  start  that  night. 
We  waited  till  everything  was  quiet 
for  as  it  happened  there  were  no  “pattie 
rollers”  out  that  night;  and  then  stole 
our  way  down  to  the  river  bank,  where 
we  knew  there  was  a  boat.  We  found 
the  boat  all  right  but  it  was  fastened  to 
a  tree  with  a  chain  the  ends  being  locked 
together.  1  told  the  other  three  men  to 
get  some  sticks  and  march  up  and  down 
the  beach  like  soldiers  while  I  took 
another  stick  with  which  I  managed  to 
pull  out  the  staple  that  held  the  chain  to 
the  boat  thereby  leaving  chain  and  lock 
fast  to  the  tree  where  it  may  be  yet  for 
ought  I  know  to  the  contrary.  There 


88 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


were  some  paddles  in  the  boat,  and  we 
were  not  Iona;  in  making  use  of  them. 
Pushing  out  from  the  shore  we  bid  good¬ 
bye  to  the  old  plantations  and  slave  life 
forever.  As  we  neared  the  boat  we  were 
hailed  with,  “  Who  are  you?”  We  re¬ 
plied,  “  Friends,”  and  received  the  reply, 
“Ad vance,  friends,  and  come  alongside.” 
As  we  got  alongside  of  the  gunboat  we 
were  hailed  again  with,  “  Who  are  you  ?” 
and  “where  did  you  come  from?”  My 
friends  said  that  they  were  from  Rob. 
Felton’s  plantation,  and  I  told  them  that 
I  belonged  to  Miss  Annie  Parker.  They 
then  inquired  if  our  owners  were  Union 
people  or  not,  and  we  replied  that  they 
were  not.  The  officer  who  had  hailed 
us  then  reported  what  we  said  to  the 
captain,  but  before  he  went  away  we 
told  him  that  all  wanted  to  go  on  board 
the  vessel  and  stay.  We  asked  him  if  he 
could  not  take  us  on  board  to  let  us 
know  at  once,  so  that  we  could  get  back 
home  before  morning.  When  the  officer 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


80 


came  back  he  said  lie  had  orders  from 
the  captain  to  let  us  come  aboard.  We 
immediately  accepted  the  invitation,  and 
being  very  tired,  were  soon  fast  asleep 
on  the  deck  of  the  vessel.  In  the  morn¬ 
ing  we  were  told  that  we  could  stay  on 
the  boat.  Accordingly,  we  let  our  boat 
drift,  which,  by  the  way,  was  only  a  cy¬ 
press  dug  out,  being  made  of  a  single 

l()cr 

When  it  was  light  we  found  that  we 
had  been  missed  at  home,  for  soon  there 
was  quite  a  number  of  men,  armed  with 
guns  and  accompanied  by  dogs,  collected 
oil  the  shore,  but  there  was  a  wide 
step  of  water  between  us,  and  we  did  not 
feel  very  much  alarmed.  The  captain 
watched  them  for  a  while,  then  ordered 
a  gun  loaded  with  a  shell  to  be  fired  in 
that  direction.  The  shell  burst  in  the 
air,  but  our  friends  did  not  stay  to  see 
another  fired.  They  seemed  to  remem¬ 
ber  very  suddenly  that  they  had  some¬ 
thing  to  do  at  home ;  at  any  rate,  in  a 


00 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


very  short  time  not  a  man  or  dog  was  to 
be  seen. 

The  next  night  some  of  the  sailors 
taking  Joe  as  a  pilot,  went  to  the  Felton 

plantation  and  got  quite  a  lot  of  chick¬ 
ens,  ducks  and  geese.  A  few  nights 

afterward  they  went  to  the  plantation 
again,  and  finding  that  Mr.  Fulton  was 
at  home,  they  surrounded  the  house  and 
took  him  prisoner  Tie  was  carried  on 
board  the  vessel  and  kept  there  until 
she  went  to  New  Berne.  The  morning 
after  he  was  taken  prisoner  his  wife  and 
two  little  children  went  to  the  vessel  and 
asked  to  see  him,  which  was  permitted. 
But  it  chanced  that  before  Mrs.  Felton 
saw  her  husband  she  sighted  Joe,  to 
whom  she  used  some  very  hard  lan¬ 
guage,  to  say  the  least.  Among  other 
things  she  told  him  that  if  the  south 
were  successful  they  would  kill  all  the 
negroes  that  ran  away.  Joe  quietly  in¬ 
formed  her  that  as  the  south  would  not 
win,  he  thought  he  was  safe  enough. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


91 


It  happened  that  Joe  was  a  son  of 
Mr.  Felton,  and  his  mother  was  one  of* 
Col.  Felton’s  slaves.  But  the  tables  had 
turned  ;  Joe  remained  on  the  vessel  a 
free  man,  and  Felton  was  a  prisoner  of 
war.  A  few  months  afterward  Joe  was 
acei d  e n tal  l y  d  ro wn ed . 

In  a  few  days  I  embarked  in  the 
United  States  Navy  and  was  placed  on 
board  a  vessel  that  had  been  captured 
from  the  rebels.  I  served  on  this  vessel, 
which  was  called  “  The  Knockum,”  and 
was  used  as  an  ammunition  boat,  for  one 
year  when  I  got  my  discharge.  I  then 
went  to  Beaufort,  where  I  worked  in  a 
saw  mill  for  some  months.  After  that  I 
went  to  sea  again  as  steward  on  a  sailing 
vessel,  owned  in  Portland,  Me.  We 
loaded  with  timber  for  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
and  after  discharging-  our  cargo,  we 
sailed  to  Portland,  at  which  place  I  left 
the  vessel,  and  have  never  been  south 
since. 

After  staying 


in  Portland  about  a 


92 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


week,  I  went  directly  to  New  Haven, 
Conn.,  where  I  had  a  cousin  who  had 
formerly  been  a  slave  in  the  Parker 
family,  but  had  been  purchased  by  an 
Alabama  planter.  When  this  planter 
died  he  left  it  in  his  will  that  my  cousin 
should  be  free ;  he  also  left  a  sum  of 
money  with  which  she  came  north.  I 
stayed  with  her  for  about  a  year,  during 
which  time  I  worked  for  a  mason  as  hod 
carrier  and  general  laborer.  From  New 
Haven  I  went  to  various  places,  staying 
but  a  short  time  in  each  I  finally  drifted 
to  Worcester,  where  I  have  lived  most 
of  the  time  for  the  last  thirty  years. 


SLAVE  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


The  following  advertisements  were 
taken  word  for  word  from  different  issues 
of  a  South  Carolina  newspaper  : 

BY  JACOB  CHAM  &  SON, 

At  Probate  Sale, 

Joe,  50,  competent  butler. 

Silvia.  35,  excellent  cook. 

Charles,  21,  Waiting  man. 

Sophia,  14. 

The  above  family  is  well  worth  the 
attention  of  those  wishing  trusty  negroes. 
They  are  to  be  sold  to  a  city  owner.  For 
further  particulars  apply  as  above  at 

24  BROAD  STREET, 

Old  State  Bank. 


94 


RECOLLECTIONS  OF 


UNDER  DECREE  IN  EQUITY. 
Execution  of  Whitesides  vs.  Williams. 
will  be  sold  on 

WEDNESDAY,  28TH  OF  MAY,  1860, 

at  11  o’clock, 

On  the  Mart  in  Chalmer  Street, 
the  following  thirteen  valuable  slaves,  viz., 
Emanuel,  aged  60,  field  hand  and  good 
hustler. 

Hager,  aged  30  years,  cook  and  washer 
Betty,  aged  14  years. 

James,  aged  12  years. 

Jack,  aged  9  years. 

Katy,  aged  25  year-’,  cook. 

Anna,  aged  4  years. 

Jenkins,  aged  18  months. 

Mary,  aged  16  years,  waiting  maid. 
George,  aged  17  years,  horse  boy. 
Harriett,  aged  60  years. 

Sam,  aged  5  yeurs. 

Betty,  aged  two  years. 

Terms  :  One-third  cash  ;  balance  in 
one  and  two  years,  to  be  secured  by 
bond,  mortgage  and  two  approved  sure¬ 
ties.  Purchasers  to  pay  for  papers. 

J  *  MkS  TOPPER, 
Master  in  Equity. 


SLAVERY  TIMES. 


95 


A  REWARD  OF  5  OR  20  DOLLARS. 

Five  Dollars  will  be  paid 
for  the  apprehending  of  my 
negro  man  named  Stephen, 
who,  in  looking  out  for  a 
master  from  the  29th  ultimo, 
has  not  returned  to  his  duty,  nor  has  he 
been  heard  of;  is  about  5  feet  8  inches 
high,  stoutly  built,  well  formed,  speaks 
good  English,  and  is  inclined  to  be  plausi¬ 
ble  ;  black  complexion,  small  whiskers 
and  a  few  white  hairs  in  them.  He  is 
well-known  about  the  city,  has  a  free 
wife  at  Mr.  Robert  Anderson’s  market  in 
King  street.  A  reward  of  twenty  dollars 
will  be  paid  for  proof  to  conviction  that 
he  is  harbored  by  a  white  person  or  free 
person  of  any  color. 

A  reward  will  also  be  paid  for  the 
apprehension  of  old  limpy  negro  For¬ 
tune  who  lor  two  months  has  been  look¬ 
ing  for  a  lost  turkey.  For  further  par- 


RECOLLECTIONS. 


96 


ticulars  inquire  at  the  corner  of  St.  Philip 
and  Six  streets. 


Novr.  8,  1831. 


J.  JOONIS. 


